Why is Dari or Farsi a better choice than Urdu for Pakistan's heritage national language?

Answer 1

Persian was the official language of Pakistan region for many centuries... during pre-British Muslim and non-Muslim periods! Urdu/Hindi language belonging to only Gangetic valley of the modern Republic of India was first promoted and developed by the British colonialists. The idea that the peoples of Pakistan region should look towards India, where Urdu was predominant, and not towards Afghanistan/Iran/Central Asia, certainly influenced the choice of the vernacular in this region. It is a fact that the British imperialists replaced Persian with Urdu in order to destroy Pakistan's close cultural/political links with its Persian-speaking Muslim neighbors on its west/north, and to engineer/promote their newly invented "Indian" colonial identity with Urdu/Hindi-speaking Gangetic (eastern/Hindu) region as its base. So let us undo what the British colonialists had started... by rejecting this bitter and brief British legacy of Urdu/Indian language/cultural imposition.... by "de-Indianizing" ourselves and reverting back to our natural independent/distinct status.

1. Urdu has no historical basis:

Urdu has no historical basis in Pakistan region before the advent of British colonialists (the British further developed Urdu and promoted it) and was then imposed as Pakistan's national language in 1947 by the Muhajir-dominated Pakistani media/govt. On the other hand, Farsi/Dari has a solid historical basis in Pakistan region. It was the official language through out Muslim and non-Muslim rule before the advent of British colonialists... whether locally independent or part of neighboring empires.

2. Urdu represents an ethnic minority's domination:

Urdu is the mother-tongue of only Muhajirs in Pakistan who represent less than 7% of Pakistanis. On the other hand, Dari/Farsi is not the mother-tongue of any single ethnic group. It is spoken by Hazaras, Tajiks, Persians, Uzbeks, Balochis, Pashtuns, Kurds, etc. in the Afghanistan-Iran-South-central Asia region.

3. Urdu is a foreign language:

Urdu is only native to a part of North India (i.e. Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, etc regions) and is a foreign language in Pakistan. On the other hand, Dari/Farsi was spoken by the ancestors of Pakistanis (pre-British era).

4. Urdu is responsible for Indian cultural invasion:

Urdu and Hindi are the same language (except for the script and some loan-words). This enables the mighty Indian media outlets such as TV, films, news, music to strongly influence Pakistanis. Pakistanis are being "Indianized" while their distinct identities are being destroyed. On the other hand, Dari/Farsi media is weak and the language itself does not belong to any single country. This language equally belongs to Pakistan just like it was in the pre-British era.

5. Urdu causes identity crises:

Since Urdu and Hindi are the same language (except for the script and some loan-words); people falsely perceive Indians and Pakistanis to be the same people. On the other hand, Dari/Farsi ensures each country's identity to be distinct. An Afghan is not perceived as an Iranian, and vice versa.

6. Urdu contradicts the creation of Pakistan:

Since Pakistan's creation was meant to separate from British-created Hindu India. Urdu being an Indian language and similar to Hindi is forcefully making Pakistan closer to Hindu India and undoing partition. On the other hand, Dari/Farsi will ensure Pakistan becomes more different from India and make it closer to its western neighbor with whom it has close historical, racial, cultural and religious ties.

7. Urdu is disintegrating Pakistan:

Urdu imposition was mostly responsible for the loss of East Pakistan provincial region, which was part of South Asia; this made West Pakistan province part of their region. And most Sindhis, Pashtuns, Balochis, etc. strongly resent Urdu imposition. On the other hand, Dari/Farsi is not resented by any ethnic group of Pakistan because it does not belong to any ethnic group and has a solid historical basis in Pakistan.

8. Urdu is the language of the Hindus:

Urdu/Hindi is the mother-tongue of almost 500 million Hindus in the Republic of India and only 10 million Muslims in Pakistan. On the other hand, Dari/Farsi is only spoken by Muslims.

9. Urdu lacks sophistication:

Most of Urdu literature is filled with wine drunken love affairs when the Muslim rule was steadily declining. It lacks science and modernity, even today. On the other hand, Dari/Farsi has plenty of books in various sciences and arts, was always the language of the sophisticated, and today has no problem adopting modernity.

10. Urdu is a legacy of British colonialism:

Urdu/Hindi was never the official language during Muslim rule (it was always Dari/Farsi/Persian), and was first promoted and further developed by the British colonialists (Hindustani/Khariboli language was "communalized" at Fort Williams College giving birth to Urdu and Hindi). The British rejected Persian language in the region to de-link any Muslim connections with its western neighbors, and promoted Urdu/Hindi to engineer their newly created "Indian" colonial identity with Ganges region as its center.

11. Urdu is a slave language:

Urdu/Hindi has always been a slave language. For example, its original/native speakers (north Indian Hindus) adopted much of Persian words/script when ruled by the Persian-speaking Muslims, and then adopted much of English words when ruled by the British (which continues today with Anglo-American global influence). On the other hand, Persian language was the language of Southwest/Central/South Asian Muslims who proudly ruled the whole region for many centuries. Today the remnants of Persian speakers are proof that Persian language does not bow down to foreign influence/occupation, and proudly utilizes its own words.

More on Dari/Farsi:1. Historically, Dari/Farsi was used in Pakistan region through out most of its pre-British history. The Muslim rulers such as Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Slave dynasty, Khiljis, Tughlaqs, Syeds, Lodhis, Suris, Mughals, and Abdali exclusively used Farsi/Dari as its official language through out their empires/kingdoms. Even the local kingdoms such as those of Ranjit Singh, the Talpurs, Khanate of Kalat, etc. used Farsi/Dari as its official language. And before the advent of Islam, various Iranian languages (derived or related to Dari/Farsi) were used in Pakistan region such as Vedic, Old Persian, Pahlvi, Old Saka, Bactrian, and Tocharian during Rig-Vedic Aryan, Achaemenian, Scythian, Parthian, Greco-Bactrian, Kushan, and Hephthalite periods. So, Dari/Farsi has a solid historical basis in the region of Pakistan.

2. Linguistically, Dari/Farsi is an Indo-Iranian language related to the Indo-Iranian languages of Pakistan. Thus, Dari/Farsi language is not an alien language to Pakistan's native languages and belongs to the same family of languages (plus the loan-words and script).

3. Geographically, the Dari/Farsi-speaking world (Iran, Afghanistan, and parts of Central Asia) are Pakistan's western and northern neighbors. Therefore, a Dari/Farsi-speaking Pakistan will attach Pakistan to the Central Asian/Pax Iranica regional bloc.

4. With Farsi/Dari as Pakistan's national language, it will counter religious extremism in the region since Sunni extremism from Pakistan would be checked by Shia Iran and Shia extremism from Iran would be checked by Sunni Pakistan.

5. Dari/Farsi is a well developed and sophisticated language. It has been used through out its history for science, medicine, literature, administration, arts, etc. When Arabs invaded the great Persian Empire they adopted much of its civilization and integrated it within Arab/Islamic culture. Dari/Farsi film industry is world renowned for its classical/artistic and decent/mature movies.

6. Dari/Farsi language is not the mother-tongue of any single ethnic group. It is spoken by Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Azeris, Persians, Kurds, Balochis, Pashtuns, Hazaras, etc. in Iran-Afghanistan-South-central Asian region.

The Bollywood movies, cable channels like Star and Zee are all in Urdu but the Indians call it Hindi.

The Indians have been trying to influence our culture from the very beginning. That is the reason why you see pure Urdu movies in the 1970s and 1980s called Hindi by Indians. By doing that, they were actually invading our cultural and linguistic space. I am not impressed by Indian moves and especially the "dramas" on zee and star networks, but the ladies in Pakistan are glued to the television and can't afford to miss even a single episode of these phony dramas.

Also, you might have noticed that the government imposed ban on these TV channels a few years ago because of the propaganda news and influence on the Pakistani culture. The other reason given by our information minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad was to allow the Pakistani media and channels to grow so that there is no competition from across the border.

All these developments indicate that cultural invasion is going on and this is done in a systematic manner. We should not lose focus from the fact that recently the channels and some movies have started using a lot of strange Hindi words in the scripts. This is because first they captured the market and now they are preaching their culture and language to that particular focused group called Pakistan.

I don't think that Pakistanis have any thing against Urdu or Muhajirs. But we should try to understand that battle of cultures is going on and if we don't ponder and think about it and pretend that nothing is going on, then we will be big losers.

In today's world, not too many wars are fought with weapons. With improved technologies, wars of media/culture are being aggressively waged. If Indian cultural invasion of Pakistan continues to "Indianize" the Pakistanis... then that would mean that Indians have conquered us and won the war... Without a single bullet!

Let us make the radical change of our national language from Urdu to Dari/Persian... to make our nation strong ensuring its long-term survival. 7. This language is not the mother-tongue of any ethnic group of Pakistan thus eliminating the cultural domination of an ethnic group and the resentment among other ethnic groups because of it.

8. This language and its derivatives were mostly spoken in Pakistan region in the pre-British period. That is to say, Rig Vedic Aryans spoke Vedic an Iranian language closely related to Avestan, ... Achaemanian and Sassanian periods had Old Persian language spoken as one of the major languages, ... Scythian, Parthian, Kushan, Hephthalite, etc. periods had different Iranian languages spoken such as Bactrian, Old Saka, Pahlavi, Tocharian, etc. as major languages, .... Turkic, Afghan, and Mughal Muslim periods exclusively had Farsi as the official language, even local kingdoms such as Ranjit Singh's and others had Farsi as the official language, etc. So this is the natural/historical language of the region.

9. This language will end the cultural invasion from India since Pakistanis will not be able to comprehend any Indian language. This will make the Pakistani identity stronger and distinct from India's. Indian movies/TV/music will not culturally corrupt the Pakistanis nor brainwash them with Indian/Hindu media's propaganda.

10. This language will make Pakistan closer to its western neighbors since the same language is spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. This will benefit Pakistan economically because of the closer cultural-linguistic ties with the abundant Natural Resources/energy-rich region. Pakistan film-industry will also be influenced by the classy Persian film-industry giving a much more artistic and respectful dimension to the currently cheap (Indian-influenced) Pakistani films.

Important point here is an identity distinct from Hindustan. And for that Pakistan would have to orient itself towards Central Asia because that is a Muslim region as well as geographically contiguous to Pakistan.

Pakistan would have to make three shifts in order to do that:

Cultural Shift: The first thing would be doing away with Urdu as a national language and adopting Dari as language of communication. That would break one link of the communities of Pakistan with India.

Other links with Hindustan will also have to be cut off e.g. food, dress, social rituals (marriage, child birth, death ceremonies, etc.), architecture, music, dance, and other cultural practices would have to be nativised. The middle and upper classes would have to take initiative in that regard because usually it is these classes that are the trend setters.

Economic Shift: Economic ties with the Neighbors in the North (Tajikistan, Kirghizia), West (Afghanistan and Turkmenistan/Uzbekistan beyond), and South-West (Iran) would have to be vitalized. Currently, there are a number of communication projects underway e.g. Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway is open for traffic since 2006. In 2005, work on an express-way from Peshawar to Torkham i.e. Pak-Afghan international border has commenced. This would link Punjab and KPK with Central Asia.

To link Karachi with Central Asia, the present single-carriage Indus high-way is converted into a double-carriage way. From Saroki in DI Khan, there will be a road built to Ghulam Khan (in Waziristan Pak-Afghan border) connecting DI Khan and Southern Punjab to Ghulam Khan, so another trade route.

Probably railway and road links from Quetta-to-Qandahar are also under consideration. This will tie Pakistan with Afghanistan and Turkmenistan via Quetta-Qandahar-Herat route.

There is already the

Karakoram Highway only if we wouldn't export fundamentalism into Sinkiang. Probably, they are also digging a tunnel in Lowari (between Dir and Chitral). Currently, NHA is working on access route to Lowari. I don't know how much is the political will to construct this tunnel but if really constructed, that would become a route to Tajikistan via Wakhan and Badakhshan.

All this is going to give huge boost to tourism as well. And Punjabis and Urdu-speakers should start learning bit of Pashto/Balochi/Dari to have good relations with these communities.

The interaction will help bring cultural influences from Central Asia and will enrich the native culture.

Political Shift: Pakistan must not consider Afghanistan its zone of influence because that country is in proximity to many important regions and countries and all have stakes in it. In the short run, political disputes with the countries to the North-West should be resolved amicably-borders should be made bit soft. In the long-run, some sort of regional political configuration, based on bit greater autonomy to communities involved and voluntary political relations guaranteed by a sacred constitution/contract, is inevitable.

Frankly speaking, Pashtuns as well Balochis have a stake in Afghanistan/Iran as well as Pakistan. Recently, I talked to few Pashtuns of Afghanistan and they told me that when Pakistan looses a cricket match, they become unhappy/sad. Another friend told me that people in Kabul generally have the impression that Pakistan is a good country.

By trying to conquer Afghanistan, the ambitious leaders of Pakistan have harmed Pakistan as well as Pashtuns. Had they not become so deeply involved in Afghanistan, today Afghans would've been the greatest allies of Pakistan. Moreover, they have been insulted/humiliated by Pakistani police.

So the political shift should be from a hegemonistic and Islam-exporting attitude to friendly political relations based on mutual respect. Certain problems relating to integration of communities and water disputes should be addressed.

Common ground should not be Pan-Islam rather geographical proximity, neighborhood, common Muslim Culture, and foremost economy. Also never bring Arabs into this because they will spoil everything using the opportunity for strengthening Pan-Arab world-power ambitions. Never involve political Mullahs. We don't have any greater common ground with Arabs e.g. they are Semites, they maintain Harems, they consider themselves superior, they are sons of desert we plain land and mountains, we have lived around great rivers, they around springs and torrents, etc.

It is for Pakistani political and intellectual elite to decide which way to go but one thing is almost certain that systems and societies based on religious identities wouldn't be viable in the future world. Sinic Civilization could not be a choice neither Arab Civilization could be because of a number of factors. The choices could only be Perso-Turkic (A greater Central Asia) or Hindustani Civilizations (a greater South Asia).

Following approach could be adopted to align with the Central Asian World:

1. For the short run, make Urdu, along with English, only a language of communication, not a national language.

2. Put more and more emphasis on English in official work and education.

3. At the same time, make it compulsory for a Pakistani to learn one native language other than mother his/her mother tongue tongue i.e. either Punjabi, or Pashto, or Sindhi, or Seraiki, or Balochi.

4. On media, give more and more coverage to native languages.

5. At the same time introduce Dari on media and in education.

Hopefully, the above measures would significantly erode the influence of Urdu-Hindi. Then apply direct measures i.e. Introduce Dari at mass-scale. Alongside, take the following measures:

6. Rewrite history books, emphasizing geographic, ethnic, and cultural ties, Ghandhara and Indus civilizations, and Central-South Asian cultural heritage.

7. Establish cultural, political, and economic ties with Central Asian and Middle-Eastern countries. The strongest link with Central Asia will be a common lingua franca, which would make communication among inhabitants of Pakistan and Central Asian people possible.

8. And most importantly, make Pakistan a true federal country with secular orientations and with as much autonomy for the federating units as possible. No strategy for a distinct Pakistani identity will be succeeding until this pre-requisite is met.